33 



implacably revengeful. If a Malay commits a fault and is 

 punished for it, there the matter terminates. But if he is only 

 threatened, and fancies the punishment still hanging over 

 him, he will commit the most atrocious actions to put an end 

 to the misery of suspense. Desperate under the influence of 

 this impression, he works himself into a state of delirium by 

 swallowing opium : then draws his kriss or dagger, and 

 stabs the whole family, slaves and all. Having glutted his 

 vengeance within doors, he sallies forth into the street, and 

 plunging his weapon into every living creature he meets, 

 whether it be man or beast, he never ceases until he is shot, 

 or is otherwise disabled from doinff farther mischief 



" It is owing, in some measure, perhaps, to the dread of 

 this savage retribution that the slaves are treated bevond 

 comparison better at the Cape than in any other Europaean 

 Colony : though it must be allowed that the very high price 

 at which they are usually valued, will prove, with most 

 masters, a strong check on harsh and inhuman treatment. 

 The law does not entrust the master with the infliction of 

 corporeal punishment ; but directs that the culprit shall be 

 sent to the common trunk or prison, where he receives a cer- 

 tain number of stripes, according to the nature of his offence. 

 It may readily be supposed, however, that this law is fre- 

 quently evaded, even in the town, and under the very eyes of 

 the magistrates ; and in the remote parts of the country it 

 necessarily goes for nothing; the distance from the seat of 

 justice adding to the difficulty and expense of complying 

 with its mandates, in the same ratio that it insures impunity 

 to the transgression of them. 



" Before the British got possession of the colony, slaves 

 convicted of capital crimes were sometimes put to the torture, 

 because an acknowledgment of guilt, either voluntary or 

 compulsive, was necessary to authorise the magistrate to pass 

 sentence of death on the criminal. But this inhuman prac- 

 tice has been abolished by the British Government, and the 

 sentence of death is executed now without any preliminary 

 cruelties. The place of execution is at the base of the Lion's 

 Rump, facing the Amsterdam Battery. Three pillars, 



VOL. II. D 



